Infusion:
Can be used anywhere from small up to very large parts
The larger your part the gets, the more inlet and outlet tubes are required and placement of them is crucial if you want to get resin all the way through your part
When making parts with foam core, ensure to drill holes in the foam to reduce the amount of resin needed to make your part
When making a structural part with foam core that isn’t flat, it’s ideal to thermoform the foam core to the shape of the mold for the part (can be a constraint)
Limitation: extremely hard to use resin infusion if there are cutouts built within the mold (i.e door cutouts in side panel mold), as it is unpredictable whether the resin with flow around the cutout or fill the cutout
Con: can create unnecessarily heavy part if resin calculation is wrong (waste of resin/money)
Wet layup:
Very easy and fast process
Ideal for smaller parts that are simple
Harder to make more detailed parts and it can have poor consolidation (material prep should be done precisely
Limitations: Hard to do for large scale parts
Con: can create unnecessarily heavy part if resin calculation is wrong (waste of resin/money)
Thermoforming:
Products can be broken if they’re stretched too much or exposed to extreme temperatures
More wasteful than the conventional methods because of this
Restricted to making parts with thin walls
Walls can be uneven and have weak spots
Cannot make as versatile a part as other methods
Vacuum forming:
May need to do additional finishing work after vacuum forming a part
Vacuum forming cannot produce a very detailed part
Clear or light-colored parts can show debris from the mold
Sources:
https://www.pacific-research.com/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-thermoforming-prl/
https://www.pacific-research.com/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-vacuum-forming-prl/
https://www.universalplastics.com/what-is-twin-sheet-thermoforming/